Committee reiterates need to revive Mayiladuthurai-Tharangampadi rail link

The Mayiladuthurai-Tharangambadi Train Restoration Committee has reiterated the demand for reviving the 30-km Mayiladuthurai-Tharangambadi rail link with extension up to Thirunallar.

The committee members, led by its organiser Arupathi P. Kalyanam and coordinator K. Rajendran, presented a representation to Governor R.N. Ravi during his visit to Mayiladuthurai on Sunday.

Requesting the Governor to take up the plea with the Union Railway Minister, the committee members said that heritage route with good tourism potential was in operation for 60 years between 1926 and 1986, after which the section was closed. Although the Railways had done a survey to explore the feasibility of extending the line till Thirunallar in 2006-07 and in 2010, the project is still pending with the Railway Board, the committee said.

The new line needs to be built for 11 km from Tharangampadi to Thirunallaur. Thirunallar and Karaikal is connected by the Peralam-Karaikal stretch, the committee said.

The project would provide a big push to tourism and economic growth of the Cauvery delta region as it would connect major Hindu, Islamic, and Christian pilgrimage centres. If implemented, it would provide a circular rail link to the delta region, it said.

The execution of the project should not pose any problem with respect to land acquisition as abundant land belonging to the railways was available between Mayiladuthurai and Tharangambadi, Mr. Kalyanam said.

The railway line via Mannampandal, Sembarnarkoil, Thirukadaiyur, Thillaiyadi, and Porayar was originally laid as a metre gauge track during the colonial era in the late 1920s, he added.